30 Days of Dragons
by HiILikeDragonsArchive
Summary: Drabble-a-day challenge done for June 2014, leading up to the premiere of httyd2. Drabble ratings range from K - M.
1. Day 30

**Day 30 - Stolen Moments**

"Shh!" Astrid hissed, interrupting her boyfriend's reenactment of his most recent argument with his father. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she sat up on her elbow and looked away thoughtfully. "Do you hear that?" She tilted her head a bit, like an animal listening in the woods.

Hiccup was instantly on guard, one hand inching for Inferno, the other instinctively reaching in front of Astrid. He squinted into the thick of pine trees behind them, slowly rising to a kneeling position. It wouldn't be the first time they'd stumbled into a wild dragon's hiding place, or unfriendly territory. When they settled on an unfamiliar island to spend the afternoon, it was a risk they always took. "What is it?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and pulled her boyfriend down by the shirt. "Nothing," she told him with a conspiratorial grin. "I hear nothing." Her eyebrows rose, trying to wordlessly communicate with him.

When Hiccup's expression of alarm and confusion didn't fade, she tugged on one of his tiny braids and jerked her chin toward the opposite direction, the grassy cliffside. There, Hiccup saw their dragons curled into sleeping positions, Stormfly's head resting on Toothless's back. The only noises coming from the two were Toothless's purring and Stormfly's whistly snoring.

"They're asleep," he whispered in awe. Usually they were the one who fell asleep in the sunshine, while the dragons romped and roamed around. Blinking back at her, he finally began to comprehend the mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"We're alone," she replied quietly, nibbling at her slowly growing smile. "For once."

That was the only encouragement he needed. Without another word, his lips were on hers, tasting her the way he never had the opportunity to. As chief-in-training, head of the dragon-training academy, inventor extraordinaire and village hero, the only moments of peace he had to himself were usually stolen by flying far away from Berk. Even if he brought Astrid with him, Toothless was decidedly not a fan of their particular brand of alone time. Half the time he was with her, he thought he might go crazy from want.

Snaking a hand around her waist, he pulled her against him and sighed at the simple perfection of her body on his. The spikes of her shoulder pads dug into his flight suit, his fingers knotting in the fabric of her shirt. He might have been Berk's little celebrity, but he was still just a young man, flesh and blood, fiercely craving the woman he loved.

"Touch me," she whispered against his mouth, and he nearly lost all sense of sanity right there. Shifting so that she was below him, Hiccup's hands greedily explored her curves. She tangled her fingers in his hair, securing his face to hers. The world had grown frighteningly vast since they'd befriended the dragons, but for that brief, stolen moment, it shrank to a pinpoint that met exactly where their chests were pressed desperately together. He moved his mouth to her neck, nibbling at the thin skin of her pulse point, and she gasped a quiet moan.

There was a sudden, sharp pain at the back of his head. A pebble clattered beside them. When they looked up, Toothless had one eye open, glaring at them in annoyed disapproval. He gave them a disgruntled sniff.

Hiccup lifted a hand to probe the spot where the pebble had landed and narrowed his gaze over his shoulder at his reptilian best friend. "Want a Night Fury belt for your wedding gift?"

Astrid groaned exasperatedly and sprawled back against the sweet-smelling grass. "He's more effective than moon tea."


	2. Day 29

**Day 29 - Life Lessons**

"Dad, I'm not sure about this," ten-year-old Hiccup apprehensively admitted to his father. The heavy rock that tired his arms with every second hung low by his knees as he struggled to maintain his grip on it.

"Don't question me, Hiccup," Stoick scolded him. "My father taught me this lesson when I was your age. It's time yeh learned." The burly viking stood over his son with a stern expression and folded arms. He'd been looking at him like that since Hiccup nearly burned down the forge trying to tinker with the furnace. Sometimes living with Stoick the Vast made his son immune to his frightening stature, but the way he grimly frowned beneath dark, unyielding brows intimidated him.

"What lesson?" the boy retorted under his breath, eyeing the jagged point of the rock's edge with trepidation. "How to give yourself a concussion?"

"For once in your life, would yeh just listen to me?" Stoick snarled exasperatedly. He gestured a meaty hand toward the stone. "Hit your head against the rock, Hiccup!"

Sobered by his father's booming command, the boy stared at the heavy rock for a moment longer before screwing his eyes shut and slamming his forehead into the middle. Pain splintered through his brain, making him drop the rock and fall backwards onto his butt. "Ahh!" he cried, lifting his fingers to his crown to tenderly feel the lump already forming there.

The heavy stone sat unscathed at the chief's feet.

"I don't get it," Stoick mumbled to himself. He tugged on his beard thoughtfully as he knelt to inspect it. "Worked when I was a boy. Split in two." He seemed more perplexed by the conundrum of the solid rock than the bruise blossoming across his son's forehead.

Hiccup half-glared up at his father, gently testing the lump with probing fingers. "Dad. You weren't by chance wearing your helmet when Pop told you to hit your head against the rock, were you?"

"Ah!" Stoick exclaimed with a slap across his knee, nodding and grinning. His expression quickly morphed into one of realization and guilt. "Oh."

"Uh-huh. Oh."


	3. Day 28

**Day 28 - Persistence**

"Astrid," Snotlout greeted pleasantly as he landed next to the blonde viking and her dragon. The beating of Hookfang's wings caused her bangs to whip across her forehead, and he grinned at the pretty sight. Ever since her sixteenth birthday, she'd started wearing her braid differently, letting her hair fall around her face. He'd made sure to let her know he noticed things like that.

Unbuckling his saddle, he slid off the Monstrous Nightmare's neck and sauntered over to Stormfly's head to give her a scratch. The dragon tilted her head and clicked with confusion, but happily accepted the affection. Then his gaze slipped to her rider. "You looked pretty good out there."

Astrid— who'd been celebrating her third consecutive victory at the dragon races by feeding Stormfly fishy treats— smiled with pride. "Thanks, Snotlout. I really thought Hiccup and Toothless almost had us at the end there." It wasn't often that the dragon master himself competed, but it always added an… interesting challenge to the race.

"Nah, I knew you had it," he disagreed, putting his elbow on Stormfly and leaning against the dragon. She nipped at his vest, irritated, but he brushed her off with a wave of his hand.

"Thanks," Astrid said again, the corner of her mouth quirking upwards at the interaction. "You guys did great, too."

Snotlout shrugged with what looked like modesty and sighed. "Yeah, well, I don't really think it's fair for us to go all out. So Hookfang and I just like to participate. Let everybody else get a chance to win."

The blonde glanced at him, her expression falling flat, but then shook her head and went back to petting her dear Nadder. Licking her thumb, she rubbed at a smudge of paint on the dragon's horn.

When Astrid didn't reply, Snotlout took a step closer. "Besides," he sighed, leaning in and dropping his gaze. "When I'm behind, I get a nice view of this."

The moment Snotlout's thick fingers brushed the back of her spiked skirt, he felt an iron grip close around his wrist. So quickly he barely had time to register her darkly violent expression, she wrenched his hand away and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Ahh!" he yelped, "I'm sorry!" But his apology was cut off by a blow to the back of his kneecaps, making him sprawl across the grass. His shoulder burned in protest, but Snotlout was more distracted by the knee pressing sharply into his spine.

"This will be the last time I say this," she hissed in his ear, her plait tickling the back of his neck. "I'm with Hiccup. I've never had or ever will have any intention of changing that. And if you ever touch me again, I will ensure that you require a prosthesis to procreate."

Astrid dug into his vertebra. "Got it?"

"Got it," he squeaked.

"Good."


	4. Day 27

p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"strongDay 27 - Fatherhood/strong/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;""Hiccup!" Gobber burst in the chief's doorway, just barely holding his helmet on his head. "There's been an accident down at the docks. We need yer help!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"Toothless's head peeked over the ledge of his loft at the sound of commotion./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"Hiccup sat up suddenly, his hand still holding out a wooden dragon to his infant son. A familiar transition passed over him, his shoulders straightening, his expression sobering. Even the Night Fury was used to the abrupt change. "Is anybody hurt?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"Pouncing to the floor, the dragon padded over to his rider and tilted his head at the older viking. It had been a quiet day up until then, a lazy afternoon of rest and laughter while Astrid was training students down at the academy. Toothless' nap had been interrupted by the loud announcement, and he shook all over as if to shake off the sleepiness./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;""Not yet," Gobber assured him. "But we've got a ship sinking and we're losing resources."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"The chief was instantly at his feet, scooping up the babbling infant and taking a step forward before pausing. He glanced down at his son with a sudden expression of apprehension. "I'm supposed to be on baby duty," he explained, conflicted. "Astrid doesn't like it when I do baby duty and chief duty."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"Gobber looked over his shoulder– the faint sounds of chaos could be heard from the shore. His thick brows were knitted together with stress. "There's not much time, Hiccup."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"For a moment, the young chief stood frozen in his living room, stammering as his eyes went from the infant to his mentor and back again. Then he looked down at his confused dragon and had all at once the best and worst idea of his life./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;""Toothless," Hiccup began, kneeling down to set the baby back on the floor. Excited, the infant crawled over to the dragon and began clumsily patting his scales. He squealed with delight and reached for the Night Fury's face. "Toothless, I need you to keep an eye on Bronwyk."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"The dragon hummed in understanding, looking down and sniffing the baby's head. Hiccup hesitated for a brief, unsure moment, but then dropped a kiss onto his son's forehead and stood./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;""Let's go," he told Gobber, crossing the house in just a few long strides. As he followed the older viking out the door, he looked over at his old friend and remarked, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Astrid about this."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"Gobber snorted. "If you only knew how many times your father said the same thing…"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;"After his rider sprinted off with the older viking, Toothless curled into a ball on the floor and rested his head on his paws. In theory, human hatchlings were extremely helpless compared to dragon hatchlings. Unconcerned, the Night Fury hooked a claw into the baby's diaper and closed his eyes, sighing as he resumed his nap to the sound of infant squeals./p 


	5. Day 26

**Day 26 - Distractions**

"Hiccup?" Astrid looked over from her badly scribbled doodle of Stormfly to her boyfriend, who was bent over his own drawings. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Mm," he replied in answer, his gaze not moving from his sketch. Stretching out on their stomachs, side-by-side in front of the fireplace, the two were warming up after being caught in a sudden downpour. He'd just been walking her home from the dragon stables when the storm struck, but instead of splitting off to sprint for his own house, he'd so gentlemanly brought her the entire way to her front door. Upon seeing her daughter and the chief's son dripping wet on her porch, Slugdora Hofferson immediately wrapped them in furs and insisted Hiccup stay for dinner. Astrid didn't try and conceal her delight.

She rested her cheek on her hand, stealing a peek at the blueprint he was drawing for a new prosthetic. The current one, her bare toes were currently exploring. Her cheeks were warm, but she hoped it was from the fire, not evidence of her embarrassment. "Do I… distract you?"

Hiccup's brow furrowed, and he lifted the charcoal from the paper to glance up at her. They lay a couple of feet apart, except where Astrid's feet were toying with his calves, but even from that distance, his gaze felt like a warm stroke down her spine. "What do you mean?"

Astrid twisted her lips thoughtfully and shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "I dunno. Nevermind."

He gave a short laugh and lowered his voice so that her mother wouldn't hear from the kitchen. "I thought you did a sufficiently good job distracting me in the forge last night," he reminded her, and she resisted a smile at the thought of snaking her hands around his waist while he measured support rods. That had led to more fun than could be discussed with her parents within earshot.

"That's kind of what I mean," she replied, matching his quiet tone. Suddenly wishing she hadn't brought up the subject at all, she picked up her own charcoal and traced Stormfly's outline. "I went there to read last night. Just hang out. But when you're around…" Astrid nibbled at her lower lip and looked at him from beneath her lashes. "I don't know. I can't keep my hands off of you."

She saw a dorky kind of cocky grin breaking on his face and had to resist the urge to kiss those stupid lips. "So," he began slowly, his eyes glittering with amusement, "what you're asking is…"

Astrid distracted herself with shading her Nadder's wings. She muttered, "…if you desire me like that."

From what she could see without looking up, there was a sexy, mischievous twinge to his expression. Hiccup took a breath and opened his mouth to answer her, but then her mother suddenly bellowed, making Astrid jump and twist her head toward the kitchen.

"Dinner's ready!"

When she looked back at Hiccup, he was pressing his lips together, but that entertained glint still occupied his eye. "C'mon," he told her. He set down his charcoal and pushed up to his feet. "It smells good."

She frowned, but accepted the hand he proffered and led him toward the kitchen. Spoilspit the Sinister was already taking up half of one of the bench-like seats at the table, nursing a mug of mead as he removed his helmet. Slugdora stood by the stove, ladling delicious smelling stew into separate bowls. As Astrid and Hiccup took up the other side of the table, she set the food down in front of them.

"Looks delicious," Hiccup told the woman as she fixed everyone's drinks before sitting down herself. It wasn't an odd occurrence that he shared a meal with the Hoffersons, especially since they'd been dating for a few years now, but he always eyed her mother's cooking like the way Meatlug looked at rocks. It made her wonder exactly how bad of a cook her boyfriend and their chief were, if neither of them ever ate a decent meal.

"Aye, well, it's not as good as Astrid's." Slugdora sighed as she took her first bite. Her husband glanced sideways at her, his own spoon paused halfway between his bowl and mouth. "She cooks all the time. She's very good at it."

"Mom, don't lie." Astrid said flatly. She'd forgotten this particular part of having Hiccup dine with her family. The never-ending hints.

"I'm not!" her mother insisted. "Remember last week? The mutton?"

The younger viking woman pinned her mother with a glance. "It was black."

Beside her, she heard Hiccup stifle a snort. The hints weren't unfamiliar to him either. It eased Astrid's mind to know he didn't feel as horrified at her parents' behavior as she did.

"Anyways, skill with cooking comes with practice," her mother rambled on. She was a burly, intimidating woman, but as anyone in the village knew after ten minutes of speaking to her, Slugdora was as much a mother as any woman half her size. Meaning, she constantly badgered her daughter, smacking the girl on the arm and growling, "Yeh better not be letting tha' boy shear the wool without buying the sheep first."

To which Astrid always replied, "I'll tell you whatever you want to hear, as long as you never refer to me as livestock again."

There was a warm pressure on her knee, drawing her out of her thoughts. Her boyfriend smiled next to her, but didn't meet her questioning gaze. His eyes were on his bowl of stew, which he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying. His hand gave her knee a comforting squeeze, and she relaxed.

"I mean, there's much more important things anyways. Like being able to protect yer children." Her mother blew innocently on a spoonful of hot broth. "That's why we always encouraged Astrid to push herself when it came to dragon training."

"Nope," the girl in question negated through a mouthful of potatoes and meat. "Definitely for Uncle Finn."

Hiccup's fingers were beginning to circle the inside of her knee with slow, gentle swirls. The action made her toes curl beneath the table, and the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Why his fingertips felt like fire outside her leggings, she could only imagine, but she parted her thighs a little as an invitation for more. From above the table, her boyfriend appeared engrossed in her mother's prattle, but below it, his hand was obviously interested in other things.

"How's the piping project been comin' along?" her father asked Hiccup, unaware of the way the young man's fingers were stroking up and down his daughter's inner thigh. "Think yeh'll be able ta start building soon?"

The chief's son nodded and swallowed the bite he'd been chewing. "Everything's drawn out, and Gobber and I have calculated materials and expenses. Dad was planning on discussing it at the next meeting."

Astrid's breath hitched when his hand slipped beneath her skirt. She quickly picked up her mug and took a long draw, hoping it disguised the expression of surprise on her face. Cutting her gaze to him, she tried not to appear as baffled and aroused as she felt.

The corners of his mouth only twitched in reply. He didn't so much as look at her.

"Would be good for the island," Spoilspit commented, stirring his stew with a beefy hand. "Save time and effort recovering from fires, save on lumber." If Astrid wasn't so distracted by the way her boyfriend was inching beneath the pleats of her skirt, she would be beaming over how well Hiccup and her father got along.

"Would yer uncle be helping out with the building?"

"Probably. It'll be a huge undertaking. Most of the villagers'll end up doing stuff here and there."

"Ah. Yeh know he's been hinting at a marriage contract, correct?"

Astrid inhaled sharply. Hiccup's hand went still for a moment, but then his palm pressed gently at the apex of her thighs. Her mouth dropped open, and she was unsure whether it was because of her father's sudden change of subject or the delicious pressure under the table.

"Sir?" Her boyfriend's brows knit together, but he looked less concerned and more confused. His fingers searched the soft place they'd found, working gently at the seam running down her center.

She worried she might choke on her own tongue. Her face growing warm, she picked up her spoon with a trembling hand and tried not to meet either of her parents' gaze.

"For Astrid and your cousin," Spoilspit elaborated. His daughter spluttered as he scraped the bottom of his bowl.

"Dad!" she blurted. Her cheeks must have been bright red, and her gasp of shock almost came out as a breathy moan when Hiccup's fingertips located a little spot he knew very well. "Not you too!"

If anything, the grin playing on Hiccup's lips grew as he shook his head. "No, sir. I hadn't heard that." He turned his amused gaze on his girlfriend. "Did you know about that?"

Just as Astrid opened her mouth to speak, the fingers between her thighs performed a trick that made her tongue stop working. She only stammered blankly, feeling a little ire growing as the other three pairs of eyes stared. Yes. How hard was the word yes? With Hiccup's hand searching deeper into her lap– hard. Very hard.

"Wasn't important," she finally managed, swallowing hard. His little game had started out fun, but now that her breath was becoming heavy, it was getting torturous and dangerous. Why, for the love of Freya, did that make her want him even more?

"I think it's important," her mother chimed in. She pointed her mug at the girl. "Yeh shouldn't brush him off so easily. Marriage proposals don't happen every day." The fingers stumbled at that one.

"Oh, gods!" Astrid's hands grabbed the edge of the table with a white-knuckled grip. Was that her irritation speaking? Her humiliation? Or the damned hand mimicking things she wanted from a much different body part? Her poor circulatory system must have been flustered beyond reason, what with all her blood wanting to flood to one polarity or the other. The mix of emotions and physical reactions was almost painful.

She wanted the floor to swallow her whole. She wanted to never invite Hiccup over again. She also wanted to brandish her axe and show her parents exactly what she thought of their hints. But most of all, she wanted the young viking at her side sprawled beneath her, worked as hot and frustrated as she currently was.

She turned on her boyfriend, her expression feral. "Would you please stop this?" Surely he would know whether she meant what was happening above the table or below it. Gods knew she didn't.

Hiccup blinked and then met her gaze. "What? Oh, sorry… I was distracted."


	6. Day 25

**Day 25 - One Step at a Time**

Stoick had left the Great Hall in the middle of a long series of meetings so he could check on his son, but after scouring the house up and down for him, the blasted boy was nowhere to be found. He wasn't supposed to be out by himself while his leg was still healing– or what was left of it, but Odin knew that Hiccup listened about as well as a mule. Odin help him if he found him flying again so soon.

The chief was about to stomp downstairs and storm off in search for Toothless, sure he'd find the beast's rider with him, but then he heard the sound of voices coming from behind the house. Furrowing his bushy brow, Stoick thudded over to the window and tugged the shutters open.

"C'mon, you got this! You're the viking!"

Stoick blinked, taken aback to see Hiccup leaning on Spitelout's boy as he shuffle-limped forward. All of the teenagers were spread out across the back yard, creating an oblong circle around his son. Though he wanted to frown– Hiccup was under strict orders to only wear the prosthetic for a few hours at a time while his amputation was healing– but the sight was something Stoick had never seen.

"I'm letting go," he heard Snotlout announce, releasing Hiccup's elbow and taking a cautious step back. The boys had never been close, so seeing his meaty hands held out toward his cousin was almost startling.

For a few hobbling paces, Hiccup winced and struggled to maintain his balance on his new leg. If Toothless was around to lean on, one could hardly notice the boy's limp, but it was clear as day when he was forced to amble on his own. It often ended with Stoick discovering just how foul of a mouth his son had. Despite the other kids' encouraging words, after making it several feet, Hiccup stumbled. He yelped.

Stoick reached out his hand, as if there was something he could do from the second floor, but one of the Thorston twins was already grabbing his arm and holding him upright.

"It locked up again," the teenager growled with frustration. He glared at the metal appendage.

The other twin knelt by his side and tinkered with Hiccup's new foot. "I got it!"

Tilting his head in wonder, Stoick watched with a growing smile of pride. Hiccup had always been a little bit… different. He'd thought it would be something he grew out of, but the transition from skinny boy to gawky teenager hadn't come with any better social skills. The chief noticed as plainly as anyone how the younger teens ignored or teased him. But he never knew what to do, always thinking that if Hiccup stopped being different, then the kids would like him.

Stoick breathed a short laugh. Should've known better. He was his mother's child. It was almost ridiculous that it'd taken the chief so long to realize it. He sighed and tried ignore the pain in his chest at the thought.

"Hey, no breaks! You're almost there!"

"It hurts, you munge-bucket!"

"C'mon, Hiccup! If you make it to Astrid, she'll give you a kiss!"

"Shut up, Ruff!"


End file.
